Remote Ultrasonic Diagnostic Subject-Side Apparatus, Remote Ultrasonic Diagnostic Examiner-Side Apparatus and Remote Ultrasonic Diagnostic System

ABSTRACT

A subject-side apparatus  10 A is provided with a cine memory  15  for sequentially storing an ultrasonic signal that is received by an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion  12  per each frame. Every time after freezing when moving a pointer for designating a frame to be reproduced in a hospital-side apparatus  20 A, a communication line interface  14  of the subject-side apparatus reproduces a frame that is required to be retransmitted by a console  24  of the hospital-side apparatus from the cine memory, and retransmits it to a communication line interface  21  of the hospital-side apparatus via a communication line  30.  Then, an ultrasonic image of the retransmitted frame is displayed on a monitor  23.  When an examiner performs a diagnosis with respect to a subject in a remote location via the communication line, an ultrasonic image can be displayed with sufficiently suppressed degradation of an image quality compared with an image quality of an original image, even at a low data rate of the communication line.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a ultrasonic diagnostic system formedical use, and particularly relates to a remote ultrasonic diagnosticsystem that is capable of providing an ultrasonic image by which anexaminer can perform a diagnosis, even when a subject being examined isphysically remote from the examiner (medical doctor in a hospital).

BACKGROUND ART

According to reduction in size of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatusthat easily provides a tomographic image of a subject as a real-timeultrasonic dynamic image, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus plays moreimportant roles in various medical diagnoses and examinations at theplaces other than ultrasonic inspection rooms, such as bedsides inhospital wards, private clinics and health care support center in theoffices, for example.

However, because of the limitation of the number of medical doctors asexaminers who can perform diagnoses accurately from displayed ultrasonicdynamic images, the shortage of the medical doctors who can interpretultrasonic images would be of concern in the case where the ultrasonicdiagnostic apparatuses become prevalent as the demand for apparatusesfor home medical care is expected to grow in the market in the future.

In addition, as speeds of communication networks represented byinternets are increased, connections via communication lines have becomepossible in various fields. There is an expectation for the developmentof an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus enabling a remote diagnosis thatis connected to a hospital via a communication line, and can enable amedical doctor in the hospital to perform an accurate diagnosis, evenwhen such a medical doctor is not present near the patient, for example,in the case where the acute patient is in, for example, an aircraft inflight, a watercraft under sail, a running train or the like, or in thecase where the injured person is carried with an ambulance. As such anultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a remote ultrasonic diagnostic systemutilizing a communication line (see, for example, Patent document 1) andthe like are known.

As mentioned above, in recent years, a data rate that can be transmittedthrough a communication line such as an internet has been dramaticallyincreased in speed, but has not reached a speed that enablestransmission of an uncompressed real-time ultrasonic dynamic imagegenerated by an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. Thus, in theabove-described conventional example, transmission of the real-timeultrasonic dynamic image is performed by introducing a high-efficiencydata compression method such as MPEG that can compress image informationto have the data rate at an upper limit value or less of thecommunication line, and can suppress deterioration of an image to aminimum, thus making efforts to transmit a real-time ultrasonic dynamicimage that is dose to the original image even when the data rate of theline is low.

In the remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, a hospital-side apparatusthat receives an ultrasonic image is required to exclude factors thatmay affect a medical diagnosis negatively, such as degradation in imagequality, a decrease in image size and a decrease in frame rate due to aspeed of the communication line.

Patent document 1: JP 2002-17732 A

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Problem to be solved by the invention

However, it is very rare that the data rate of the communication linecan be secured stably over a long period of time, and in the case wherethe data rate of the communication line is not enough, measures forcoinciding a timing of receiving the image with a real time are taken,by reducing frames of the reception side (or the transmission side) sothat, for example, the reception side has a frame rate of 15frames/second even when the original image has a frame rate of 30frames/second.

In addition, in an ultrasonic diagnosis in a clinical setting, there arefrequent cases where, after performing a diagnosis by using anultrasonic dynamic image in real time, the image is frozen once, anddiagnostic contents are confirmed again by using a cine-memory functionfor reproducing image data that are accumulated in a memory inside theapparatus, and are output to a recording device. Moreover, there is aproblem that, in a diagnosis of a circulatory system such as a heart,for example, only reproducing an image of 15 frames/second with framesreduced from the original image of 30 frames/second cannot providenecessary and sufficient image information to an examiner (medicaldoctor).

Furthermore, in order to compress data, hardware (or high-speedprocessing software) designed specifically for data compression isrequired, and a time lag occurs depending on the image compressionmethod, where there is a general trend that a higher compression rateprovides a larger time lag. Thereby, a medical doctor performing anexamination at a remote location may be frustrated, which maydeteriorate the diagnosis efficiency. In addition, since the imageinformation is compressed by a compression method that has a highefficiency but is irreversible, there is a problem in that an imagequality of an ultrasonic image displayed on the hospital-side apparatusis inevitably lower than that of the original image.

The present invention was made in view of the above-describedconventional problems, and it is an object of the present invention toprovide a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system that can display anultrasonic image with sufficiently suppressed degradation of an imagequality compared with an image quality of an original image, even at alow data rate of a communication line, when an examiner performs adiagnosis with respect to a subject in a remote location via thecommunication line.

Means for Solving a Problem

The present invention is based on a remote ultrasonic diagnostic systemincluding: an examiner-side apparatus by which an examiner performs adiagnosis with respect to a subject in a remote location via acommunication line by using an ultrasonic image; and a subject-sideapparatus on the subject side.

In order to attain the above-described object, a first subject-sideapparatus of the present invention includes: an ultrasonic wavetransmission/reception portion for receiving an ultrasonic echo that isgenerated from an electroacoustic converting means driven by atransmission pulse, and receiving an ultrasonic echo reflected by aninside of the subject; an image generation portion for generatingultrasonic image data from an ultrasonic signal that is received by theultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion; a cine memory forsequentially storing the ultrasonic signal that is received by theultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion per each frame; and acommunication line interface for reproducing, from the cine memory, theframe that is requested to be retransmitted by the examiner-sideapparatus after freezing, and retransmitting the frame to theexaminer-side apparatus via the communication line.

In addition, a first examiner-side apparatus of the present inventionincludes: a communication line interface for requesting a communicationline interface of the subject-side apparatus to retransmit a frame to bereproduced so as to retransmit the frame via the communication line,every time after freezing when moving a pointer for designating theframe to be reproduced from a cine memory that sequentially stores anultrasonic signal received by an ultrasonic wave transmission/receptionportion of the subject-side apparatus per each frame; an image formationportion for forming an ultrasonic image of the retransmitted frame; anda displaying means for displaying the ultrasonic image that is formed bythe image formation portion.

In addition, a first remote ultrasonic diagnostic system of the presentinvention has a configuration where the first subject-side apparatus andthe first remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus areconnected via a communication line.

According to this configuration, the subject-side apparatus is providedwith a cine-memory function, and thus retransmits an image that isdesignated by the pointer from the subject-side apparatus, every timewhen the frame pointer is moved for the purpose of cine-memoryreproduction in the examiner-side (hospital-side) apparatus, after thehospital-side apparatus is frozen. Thereby, even when frames are missingintermittently due to an insufficient speed of the communication line ina live mode, and when a plurality of frames are missing continuously dueto a failure of the communication line, the hospital-side apparatus canperform cine-memory reproduction and display with no missing frame afterthe freezing.

In the first remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, it is preferable thatthe communication line interface of the subject-side apparatusretransmits at least a part of all frames that are accumulated in thecine memory of the subject-side apparatus to the examiner-side apparatusin a background, after freezing, and the examiner-side apparatusincludes the cine memory for storing an ultrasonic image of the framethat is retransmitted after the freezing.

According to this configuration, the hospital-side apparatus is providedwith a cine-memory function, and the hospital-side apparatus receives(for example, in the background) information that is accumulated in thecine memory of the subject-side apparatus from the time of the freezing,and accumulates the information in the cine memory of the hospital-sideapparatus. Thereby, even when the communication line between the subjectside and the hospital side is disconnected due to a deterioration of acondition of the line, the hospital-side apparatus alone can continue adiagnosis by the cine-memory reproduction and display with no missingframe.

In the first remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, it is preferable thatthe subject-side apparatus includes a displaying means for displaying anultrasonic image that is retransmitted to the examiner-side apparatus.

According to this configuration, when the frame that is requested to beretransmitted by the hospital-side apparatus is retransmitted to thehospital-side apparatus, if the frame also is displayed on a seconddisplaying means of the subject-side apparatus, (an operator on) thesubject side and (a medical doctor on) the hospital side can sharediagnostic information by the same image.

In order to attain the above-described object, a second subject-sideapparatus of the present invention includes: an ultrasonic wavetransmission/reception portion for transmitting an ultrasonic echo thatis generated from an electroacoustic converting means driven by atransmission pulse, and receiving an ultrasonic echo reflected by aninside of the subject; an image generation portion for generatingultrasonic image data from an ultrasonic signal that is received by theultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion; a cine memory forsequentially storing the ultrasonic signal that is received by theultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion per each frame; adisplaying means for reproducing, from the cine memory, the frame thatis requested to be retransmitted in the subject-side apparatus afterfreezing, and displaying the frame as an ultrasonic image; and acommunication line interface for retransmitting the frame thatcorresponds to the ultrasonic image displayed on the displaying means tothe examiner-side apparatus via the communication line.

In addition, a second examiner-side apparatus includes: a communicationline interface for receiving a frame that is retransmitted from acommunication line interface of the subject-side apparatus via thecommunication line, after freezing; an image formation portion forforming an ultrasonic image of the retransmitted frame; and a displayingmeans for displaying the ultrasonic image that is formed by the imageformation portion.

In addition, a second remote ultrasonic diagnostic system of the presentinvention has a configuration where the second subject-side apparatusand the second examiner-side apparatus are connected via a communicationline.

According to this configuration, when the subject-side apparatusreproduces and displays on the displaying means of the subject-sideapparatus by using the reproduction function from the cine memory, ifthe displayed frame is retransmitted also to the hospital-sideapparatus, (an operator on) the subject side and (a medical doctor on)the hospital side can share diagnostic information by the same image,similarly to a third remote ultrasonic diagnostic system.

In order to attain the above-described object, a third subject-sideapparatus of the present invention includes: an ultrasonic wavetransmission/reception portion for transmitting an ultrasonic echo thatis generated from an electroacoustic converting means driven by atransmission pulse, and receiving an ultrasonic echo reflected by aninside of the subject; an image generation portion for generatingultrasonic image data by performing a filtering process with respect toan ultrasonic signal that is received by the ultrasonic wavetransmission/reception portion; and a communication line interface fortransmitting the ultrasonic image data that is generated by the imagegeneration portion to the examiner-side apparatus via the communicationline.

In addition, a third examiner-side apparatus of the present inventionincludes: a communication line interface for receiving an ultrasonicimage data that is transmitted from a communication line interface ofthe subject-side apparatus via the communication line; a scan convertingmeans for converting the number of scanning lines of the receivedultrasonic image data; and a displaying means for displaying theultrasonic image data that is scanned and converted by the scanconverting means.

In addition, the third remote ultrasonic diagnostic system has aconfiguration where the third subject-side apparatus and the thirdexaminer-side apparatus are connected via a communication line.

According to this configuration, considering the ultrasonic image dataat the time immediately before being input into the scan convertingmeans of the hospital-side apparatus, which has the lowest data rate ina circuit inside the examiner-side (hospital-side) apparatus in theremote ultrasonic diagnostic system, the image generation portionperforms the filtering process (or a resampling process) so as tooptimize the ultrasonic image data for the scan converter of thehospital-side apparatus, the optimized image data is transmitteddirectly to the communication line, and, in the hospital-side apparatus,the scan converting means converts the number of scanning lines of theultrasonic image data that is received via the communication line so asto display the image. Thereby, a real-time ultrasonic dynamic image thatdoes not require any special image compressing means and thus does notgenerate any time lag due to the compression can betransmitted/received.

In the third remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, it is preferable thatthe displaying means of the examiner-side apparatus displays, as areal-time ultrasonic dynamic image, a real-time ultrasonic dynamic imagethat is transmitted from the subject-side apparatus.

According to this configuration, since the original image data can betransmitted in real time at a data rate that is equivalent or lower thana data rate in the case of using a high-compression-rate imagecompressing means, the hospital-side apparatus that is connected withthe subject-side apparatus via the communication line can receive thereal-time ultrasonic dynamic image without any degradation in imagequality from the original image.

In addition, in this remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, it ispreferable that the subject-side apparatus includes: a scan convertingmeans for converting the number of scanning lines of the ultrasonicimage data that is generated from the image generation portion; and adisplaying means for displaying the ultrasonic image data that isscanned and converted by the scan converting means.

According to this configuration, the subject-side apparatus also isprovided with the scan converter, and thus can display, as the real-timeultrasonic dynamic image, an image that is the same as the imagedisplayed on the hospital-side apparatus, whereby (an operator on) thesubject side and (a medical doctor on) the hospital side can sharediagnostic information.

In order to attain the above-described object, a fourth subject-sideapparatus of the present invention includes: an ultrasonic wavetransmission/reception portion for transmitting an ultrasonic echo thatis generated from an electroacoustic converting means driven by atransmission pulse, and receiving an ultrasonic echo reflected by aninside of the subject; an image generation portion for generatingultrasonic image data by performing a filtering process with respect toan ultrasonic signal that is received by the ultrasonic wavetransmission/reception portion; a cine memory for sequentially storingthe ultrasonic signal that is received by the ultrasonic wavetransmission/reception portion per each frame; and a communication lineinterface for reproducing, from the cine memory, the frame that isrequested to be retransmitted by the examiner-side apparatus afterfreezing, and retransmitting the frame to the examiner-side apparatusvia the communication line.

In addition, a fourth examiner-side apparatus of the present inventionincludes: a communication line interface for requesting a communicationline interface of the subject-side apparatus to retransmit a frame to bereproduced and retransmitting the frame via the communication line,every time after freezing when moving a pointer for designating theframe to be reproduced from a cine memory that sequentially stores anultrasonic signal received by an ultrasonic wave transmission/receptionportion of the subject-side apparatus per each frame; an image formationportion that includes a scan converting means for converting the numberof scanning lines of an ultrasonic image data of the retransmittedframe, and forms an ultrasonic image by the scan converting means; and adisplaying means for displaying the ultrasonic image that is formed bythe image formation portion.

In addition, the fourth remote ultrasonic diagnostic system of thepresent invention has a configuration where the fourth subject-sideapparatus and the fourth examiner-side apparatus are connected via acommunication line.

Effects of the Invention

According to the remote ultrasonic diagnostic system of the presentinvention, when an examiner performs a diagnosis with respect to asubject in a remote location via a communication line, an ultrasonicimage with sufficiently suppressed degradation of an image qualitycompared with an image quality of an original image can be displayed,even with a low data rate of the communication line.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[FIG. 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 1 of the present invention.

[FIG. 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a state of missing framesdepending on the condition of a communication line.

[FIG. 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a state of retransmittinga frame that is requested to be reproduced by a cine memory.

[FIG. 4] FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 2 of the present invention.

[FIG. 5] FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 3 of the present invention.

[FIG. 6] FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 4 of the present invention.

[FIG. 7] FIG. 7 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 5 of the present invention.

[FIG. 8] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the numberof acoustic scanning lines of the ultrasonic probe of FIG. 1 whensweeping at a single density.

[FIG. 9] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the numberof sets of image data to be input into the scan converter of FIG. 1.

[FIG. 10] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of anultrasonic image of a VGA size that is displayed on the monitor ofFIG. 1. [FIG. 11] FIG. 11 is a block diagram schematically showing amodified example of the remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 5, in the case of using a personal computer as ahospital-side apparatus.

[FIG. 12] FIG. 12 is a block diagram schematically showing an example ofa configuration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 6 of the present invention.

[FIG. 13] FIG. 13 is a block diagram schematically showing an example ofa configuration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 7 of the present invention.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE CODES

10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E, 10F subject-side apparatus

11 ultrasonic probe

12 ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion

13 image generation portion

14 communication line interface

15 cine memory

16 monitor

17 console

18 image generation portion

20A, 20B, 20C, 20D, 20E hospital-side apparatus

21 communication line interface

22 image formation portion

23, 26 monitor

24 console

25 cine memory

27 scan converter

30 communication line

40, 41 personal computer

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Preferable embodiments of the present invention will be described belowin detail, with reference to the drawings.

EMBODIMENT 1

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 1 of the present invention. A transmission pulse generated byan ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion 12 in a subject-sideapparatus 10A drives an ultrasonic probe 11 (electroacoustic convertingmeans) that is connected to the subject-side apparatus 10A, and anultrasonic signal is transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 11 into thesubject and starts to receive the signal at the same time. The receivedultrasonic signal is subjected to delay synthesis at the ultrasonic wavetransmission/reception portion 12, and an ultrasonic image data isgenerated at an image generation portion 13. Moreover, an input signalto the image generation portion 13 is input also into a cine memory 15(cine memory of the subject-side apparatus), and the cine memory 15sequentially stores a reception signal as image information per eachframe from the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion 12.

Image data that is generated at the image generation portion 13 istransmitted from a communication line interface 14 (communication lineinterface of the subject-side apparatus) to a communication line(network) 30 such as an internet and a LAN. In a hospital-side apparatus20A (examiner-side apparatus), a communication line interface 21(communication line interface of the examiner-side apparatus) receivesthe image data that is transmitted from the subject-side apparatus 10Avia the communication line 30, transmits the image data to an imageformation portion 22, and finally displays an ultrasonic image on amonitor 23 (displaying means of the examiner-side apparatus).

Herein, as shown in FIG. 2, in the case where a data rate of thecommunication line is not sufficient when the subject-side apparatus 10Atransmits the image data of 30 frames/second to the hospital-sideapparatus 20A, some of the frames that can be received by thehospital-side apparatus 20A are missing intermittently. For example, inthe case where only a half of the data rate can be secured, frames aremissing at a rate of 15 frames/second. Furthermore, if any failure ofthe communication line occurs additionally, a plurality of frames may bemissing continuously.

In an actual scene of an ultrasonic diagnosis, there are frequent caseswhere, after performing a diagnosis by using an ultrasonic image in alive mode in real time, the image is frozen once, and the diagnosticdata are confirmed again by using a cine-memory function for reproducingframes of image data that are accumulated in a memory inside theapparatus, and are output to a recording device. However, as shown inFIG. 2, most frames are missing and only 12 frames of the image data inone second reach the hospital-side apparatus 20A after the freezing.Therefore, in the case where a console 24 requests cine-memoryreproduction with respect to, for example, a frame “04” or a frame “20”,the subject-side apparatus 10A automatically retransmits a designatedframe as shown in FIG. 3, and the frame is displayed on the monitor 23of the hospital-side apparatus 20A.

In this case, since it is after the freezing, even if a speed of thecommunication line is insufficient for transmitting/receiving theultrasonic image in a live mode in real time, one frame of the imagedata that is requested to perform frame reproduction by the cine-memoryfunction can be transmitted/received. Thereby, an operator (medicaldoctor) using the hospital-side apparatus 20A can perform a diagnosis bythe cine-memory reproduction without any frame missing from all of the30 frames that are obtained by the subject-side apparatus 10A per onesecond.

As mentioned above, the present embodiment can provide the excellentremote ultrasonic diagnostic system, in which the subject-side apparatus10A is provided with the cine-memory function, and retransmits an imagethat is designated by the pointer from the subject-side apparatus 10A,each time when the frame pointer is moved for the purpose of thecine-memory reproduction in the hospital-side apparatus 20A, after thehospital-side apparatus 20A is frozen. Thereby, even when frames aremissing intermittently due to an in sufficient speed of thecommunication line in a live mode, and when a plurality of frames aremissing continuously due to a failure of the communication line, thehospital-side apparatus 20A can perform the cine-memory reproduction anddisplay with no missing frame after the freezing.

In addition, as the hospital-side apparatus 20A, a personal computerthat can be connected to a communication line may be used.

EMBODIMENT 2

FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 2 of the present invention. Herein, the same referencenumerals are assigned to the same elements as those composing the systemshown in FIG. 1 so as to simplify their explanations. In the presentembodiment, a cine memory 25 (a cine memory of an examiner-sideapparatus) is provided also in a hospital-side apparatus 20B.

In the system of FIG. 4, when the console 24 of the hospital-sideapparatus 20B requires to freeze, an ultrasonic image displayed on themonitor 23 freezes. At the same time, the communication line interface21 transmits freeze information to the subject-side apparatus 10A viathe communication line 30, and requires to retransmit the image dataaccumulated in the cine memory 15, whereby the data accumulated in thecine memory 15 is transmitted to the cine memory 25 in the hospital-sideapparatus 20B via the image generation portion 13, the communicationline interface 14 and the communication line 30, and is stored in thecine memory 25 in the hospital-side apparatus 20B. At this time, it ispreferable to retransmit the data in the background without changing theimage displayed on the monitor 23.

When the console 24 requests the cine-memory reproduction aftercompleting the transmission of the image information, even if the imagelacks a frame in a live mode, all of the frames are alreadyretransmitted to the cine memory 25 after the freezing, and thus acine-memory image can be reproduced and displayed on the monitor 23 withno missing frame.

As mentioned above, according to the present embodiment, thehospital-side apparatus also is provided with a cine-memory function,receives (for example, in the background) information that isaccumulated in the cine memory 15 of the subject-side apparatus from thetime immediately after the freezing, and accumulates the information inthe cine memory 25 of the hospital-side apparatus. Thereby, even whenthe communication line between the subject side and the hospital side isdisconnected due to a deterioration of the condition of the line, thehospital-side apparatus 20B alone can continue a diagnosis by thecine-memory reproduction and display with no missing frame.

EMBODIMENT 3

FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 3 of the present invention. In the present embodiment, amonitor 16 (a displaying means of a subject-side apparatus) is providedalso in a subject-side apparatus 10B.

In the system of FIG. 5, similarly to Embodiment 1, in the case wherethe console 24 requests cine-memory reproduction, a designated frame isretransmitted from the cine memory 15 in the subject-side apparatus 10Bin which an image frame is recorded to the communication line interface21 of the hospital-side apparatus 20A without depending on a conditionof the communication line 30, and is displayed on the monitor 23 via theimage formation portion 22, whereby the cine memory can be reproducedwithout any frame missing from all of the 30 image frames per onesecond. At this time, the image that is transmitted to the hospital-sideapparatus 20A is displayed also on the monitor 16 in the subject-sideapparatus 10B.

As mentioned above, the present embodiment can provide an excellentremote ultrasonic diagnostic system that enables (an operator) on thesubject side and (a medical doctor) on the hospital side to sharediagnostic information by the same image, by displaying the frame thatis requested to be retransmitted by the hospital-side apparatus 20A alsoon the monitor 16 of the subject-side apparatus 10B, when the frame isretransmitted to the hospital-side apparatus 20A.

EMBODIMENT 4

FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 4 of the present invention. In the present embodiment, aconsole 17 is provided in a subject-side apparatus 10C.

In the system of FIG. 6, in the case where the console 17 in thesubject-side apparatus 10C requires cine-memory reproduction afterfreezing, a designated frame is transmitted from the cine memory 15 to ahospital-side apparatus 20C automatically. At this time, the frame thatis displayed on the monitor 16 in the subject-side apparatus 10C isretransmitted to the communication line interface 21 of thehospital-side apparatus 20C, and is displayed on the monitor 26 via theimage formation portion 22.

By retransmitting the frame, which is displayed on the monitor 16 of thesubject-side apparatus 11C and is requested to be retransmitted, to thehospital-side apparatus 20C, and by displaying the frame also on themonitor 26 of the hospital-side apparatus 20C, the excellent remoteultrasonic diagnostic system that enables (an operator on) the subjectside and (a medical doctor on) the hospital side to share diagnosticinformation by the same image can be provided.

EMBODIMENT 5

FIG. 7 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 5 of the present invention. In FIG. 7, a transmission pulsethat is generated by the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion12 in a subject-side apparatus 10D drives the ultrasonic probe 11 of a128ch type, and an ultrasonic signal is transmitted from the ultrasonicprobe 11 into the subject and reception of the ultrasonic signal startsat the same time. The received ultrasonic signal is subjected to delaysynthesis at the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion 12, thensubjected to a filtering process (or a resampling process) by the imagegeneration portion 18, and then is converted into ultrasonic image datain a number of sets of data that is optimized for scan conversion. Theultrasonic image data that is subjected to the filtering process by theimage generation portion 18 is transmitted from the communication lineinterface 14 to the communication line 30.

The communication line interface 21 in the hospital-side apparatus 20Dreceives the ultrasonic image data that is transmitted via thecommunication line 30, and the received ultrasonic image data is inputinto a scan converter 27 (a scan-converting means of the examiner-sideapparatus). The scan converter 27 shapes the ultrasonic image data intoa form of a screen that coincides with a physical shape of theultrasonic probe 11, and allows the monitor 23 to display the ultrasonicimage.

Here, assuming the case of transmitting an unprocessed video outputimage of a general ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to a hospital in aremote location via a communication line, in order to display amonochrome video signal of an NTSC standard on the monitor 23 of thehospital-side apparatus 20D, at least 8-bit monochrome data of a VGAsize (640 pixels×480 lines) of 30 frames/second is necessary. Therefore,as represented by Formula 1 below, a data rate of about 74 Mbps ineffective speed is necessary, and thus it is found that the datainformation amount is too large to be transmitted/received via a generalcommunication line. Accordingly, a high-efficiency image compressingmeans such as an MPEG is necessary.

640×480×30×8=73.7 Mbps   Formula 1

Here, the present embodiment focuses on a role of the scan converter inthe ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and can decrease the informationamount of the image data to be transmitted/received to be a minimumlimit.

More specifically, the scan converter performs various interpolatingprocesses to prevent the missing of an image and the generation of aunnatural discontiguous part at the time of displaying the image on themonitor, and provides the image that is most suitable for a medicaldiagnosis. On the other hand, the scan converter increases an apparentinformation amount significantly. Thus, by providing the scan converter27 in the hospital-side apparatus 20D as shown in FIG. 7, the data ratethat is transmitted/received in the communication line 30 can bedecreased significantly.

For example, in the case of connecting the ultrasonic probe 11 of a128ch type to the subject-side apparatus 10D, the number of acousticscanning lines is about 100 when sweeping at a normal single density, asshown in FIG. 8. Thus, the number of sets of the image data to be inputinto the scan converter 27 is 100 that is the same as the number of theacoustic scanning lines, and furthermore, the number of sets of theimage data per each frame that is output from the image generationportion 18 and is input into the communication line interface 14 also is100, as shown in FIG. 9. Similarly, the number of sets of the image dataper each frame that is received by the communication line interface 21of the hospital-side apparatus 20D also is 100. The scan converter 27shapes these 100 sets of the image data into a form of a screen thatcoincides with a physical shape of the probe, and allows the monitor 23to display one frame of the ultrasonic image of a VGA size as shown inFIG. 10.

Moreover, in the case where the image to be displayed on the monitor hasa VGA size (640 pixels×480 lines), a suitable depth of the image data tobe input into the scan converter 27 is about 400 dots, and thus a datarate required for transmitting/receiving 8-bit data of 30 frames/secondis about 10 Mbps in effective speed, as represented by Formula 2 below.

100×400×30×8=9.6 Mbps   Formula 2

Therefore, it is found that, according to the configuration of FIG. 7that transmits/receives a necessity minimum of the information amount,an effect that is equivalent to the case of compressing the informationamount to be 1/7 or less can be obtained automatically, and thus theuncompressed image sufficiently can be transmitted via a high-speedcommunication line. Furthermore, since a circuit (or a software)designed specifically for image compression is not required, no time lagfor image compression is generated, and it is possible to provide theexcellent ultrasonic diagnostic system, in which the image data withoutany compression nor any image degradation is input into the scanconverter 27.

So far, the example of the monochrome mode is described. Whereas, in thecase of a color Doppler mode, a color video signal is displayed on themonitor 23 of the hospital-side apparatus 20D, where 24-bit data of 30frames/second is necessary for displaying the color video signal of thesame image size, and thus a data rate of about 221 Mbps in effectivespeed is necessary as represented by Formula 3 below.

640×480×30×24=221.2 Mbps   Formula 3

However, since a frame rate of a ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in acolor mode generally is lower than that in a monochrome mode, the datarate of the image data immediately before being input into the scanconverter 27 does not change (or is decreased), and thus the data ratedoes not increase to about 10 Mbps or more in effective speed that isrepresented by Formula 2. That is, in the color Doppler mode, an effectequivalent to that of the case of compressing the image data to about1/23 can be obtained, as represented by Formula 4 below.

9.6 Mbps/221.2 Mbps= 1/23  Formula 4

Moreover, FIG. 11 shows an example of using a personal computer as thehospital-side apparatus. In recent years, image processing capabilitiesof personal computers have made remarkable progress, and thus a scanconverter portion of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus can be formedonly by software. Moreover, a function of connecting to a communicationline (network) also is standard equipment.

Thus, by mounting the function of connecting to the communication line30 and a scan converter function as software in a general personalcomputer 40, the hospital-side apparatus can be replaced by one set ofthe personal computer 40. That is, the excellent remote ultrasonicdiagnostic system that does not require any specific hardware and has alarge merit in terms of the cost can be provided.

EMBODIMENT 6

FIG. 12 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 6 of the present invention. The received ultrasonic signal issubjected to delay synthesis at the ultrasonic wavetransmission/reception portion 12, then is subjected to a filteringprocess by the image generation portion 18, and then is converted intoultrasonic image data in a number of sets of data that is optimized forscan conversion. The ultrasonic image data that is subjected to thefiltering process by the image generation portion 18 is input into apersonal computer 41 in which the function of connecting to thecommunication line 30 is carried out by the software (the communicationline interface, the scan converting means and the displaying means ofthe subject-side apparatus), and is transmitted to the communicationline (network) 30 such as an internet and a LAN.

If the scan converter function also is carried out by a software in thepersonal computer 41 at the same time, a screen of the personal computer41 on the subject side can display a real-time ultrasonic dynamic imagethat is the same as the ultrasonic image displayed on the personalcomputer 40 as the hospital-side apparatus, thereby enabling to providethe excellent remote ultrasonic diagnostic system that enables (anoperator on) the subject side and (a medical doctor on) the hospitalside to share diagnostic information.

EMBODIMENT 7

FIG. 13 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of aconfiguration of a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according toEmbodiment 7 of the present invention. This embodiment includes aconfiguration of combining Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. 1 and Embodiment 5shown in FIG. 7. An image formation portion 28 in a hospital-sideapparatus 20E includes a scan converter for converting the number ofscanning lines of an ultrasonic image data of a transmitted frame.Specific actions of the cine memory 15 and the scan converter are asdescribed above in the respective embodiments. The ultrasonic image dataof the frame that is retransmitted from the cine memory 15 is processedsimilarly to the above-described case of using the scan converter.

In addition, the subject-side apparatuses and the hospital-sideapparatuses that respectively are described in the above embodiments maybe used in any combinations. Moreover, the communication line (network)may be a specific LAN in the hospital, or may be connected to aninternet network by a general TCP/IP protocol. Needless to say, theimage data can be relayed intermediately by a server function, and, if aplurality of the hospital-side apparatuses are connected thereto, manymedical doctors can perform diagnoses at the same time, an moreover, theexaminer-side apparatuses can achieve the same remote diagnoses evenwhen they are located physically apart from each other. Whereas, if thesubject-side apparatus and the hospital-side apparatus are connecteddirectly by one-to-one by, for example, a cross cable for Ethernet(registered trademark), a similar effect can be obtained. Moreover, afurther effect can be obtained, by recording a video image as the imagedata to be recorded in the cine memory, or adding an image compressionand image elongation function such as an MPEG to each apparatus.

In addition, in each embodiment of the present invention, the remoteultrasonic diagnostic system was exemplified for explanation, however,the present invention also can be applied to other imaging devices formedical application (for example, X-ray CT scanners, magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI) apparatuses and nuclear magnetic diagnostic apparatuses).

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The remote ultrasonic diagnostic system of the present invention has anadvantage of displaying an ultrasonic image with sufficiently suppresseddegradation of an image quality compared with the image quality of anoriginal image, even at a low data rate of a communication line, when anexaminer performs a diagnosis with respect to a subject in a remotelocation via the communication line. Thus, the remote ultrasonicdiagnostic system of the present invention can be applied usefully to anetwork system between an inside and an outside of a hospital, aninter-hospital network system and the like that enable many medicaldoctors to perform diagnoses at the same time.

1. A remote ultrasonic diagnostic subject-side apparatus that is used in a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, comprising: an examiner-side apparatus by which an examiner performs a diagnosis with respect to a subject in a remote location via a communication line by using an ultrasonic image; and the subject-side apparatus on the subject side, the subject-side apparatus comprising: an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion for transmitting an ultrasonic echo that is generated from an electroacoustic converting means driven by a transmission pulse, and receiving an ultrasonic echo reflected by an inside of the subject; an image generation portion for generating ultrasonic image data from an ultrasonic signal that is received by the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion; a cine memory for sequentially storing the ultrasonic signal that is received by the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion per each frame; and a communication line interface for reproducing, from the cine memory, the frame that is requested to be retransmitted by the examiner-side apparatus after freezing, and retransmitting the frame to the examiner-side apparatus via the communication line.
 2. A remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus that is used in a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, comprising: an examiner-side apparatus by which an examiner performs a diagnosis with respect to a subject in a remote location via a communication line by using an ultrasonic image; and the subject-side apparatus on the subject side, the examiner-side apparatus comprising: a communication line interface for requesting a communication line interface of the subject-side apparatus to retransmit a frame to be reproduced so as to retransmit the frame via the communication line, every time after freezing when moving a pointer for designating the frame to be reproduced from a cine memory that sequentially stores an ultrasonic signal received by an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion of the subject-side apparatus per each frame; an image formation portion for forming an ultrasonic image of the retransmitted frame; and a displaying means for displaying the ultrasonic image that is formed by the image formation portion.
 3. A remote ultrasonic diagnostic system in which the remote ultrasonic diagnostic subject-side apparatus according to claim 1 and a remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus are connected via a communication lines, the remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus comprising: a communication line interface for requesting a communication line interface of the subject-side apparatus to retransmit a frame to be reproduced so as to retransmit the frame via the communication line every time after freezing when moving a pointer for designating the frame to be reproduced from a cine memory that sequentially stores an ultrasonic signal received by an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion of the subject-side apparatus per each frame; an image formation portion for forming an ultrasonic image of the retransmitted frame; and a displaying means for displaying the ultrasonic image that i's formed by the image formation portion.
 4. The remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according to claim 3, wherein the communication line interface of the subject-side apparatus retransmits at least a part of all frames that are accumulated in the cine memory of the subject-side apparatus to the examiner-side apparatus in a background, after freezing, and the examiner-side apparatus comprises the cine memory for storing an ultrasonic image of the frame that is retransmitted after the freezing.
 5. The remote ultrasonic diagnostic system according to claim 3, wherein the subject-side apparatus comprises a displaying means for displaying an ultrasonic image that is retransmitted to the examiner-side apparatus.
 6. A remote ultrasonic diagnostic subject-side apparatus that is used in a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, comprising: an examiner-side apparatus by which an examiner performs a diagnosis with respect to a subject in a remote location via a communication line by using an ultrasonic image; and the subject-side apparatus on the subject side, the subject-side apparatus comprising: an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion for transmitting an ultrasonic echo that is generated from an electroacoustic converting means driven by a transmission pulse, and receiving an ultrasonic echo reflected by an inside of the subject; an image generation portion for generating ultrasonic image data from an ultrasonic signal that is received by the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion; a cine memory for sequentially storing the ultrasonic signal that is received by the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion per each frame; a displaying means for reproducing, from the cine memory, the frame that is requested to be retransmitted in the subject-side apparatus after freezing, and displaying the frame as an ultrasonic image; and a communication line interface for retransmitting the frame that corresponds to the ultrasonic image displayed on the displaying means to the examiner-side apparatus via the communication line.
 7. A remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus that is used in a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, comprising: an examiner-side apparatus by which an examiner performs a diagnosis with respect to a subject in a remote location via a communication line by using an ultrasonic image; and the subject-side apparatus on the subject side, the examiner-side apparatus comprising: a communication line interface for receiving a frame that is retransmitted from a communication line interface of the subject-side apparatus via the communication line, after freezing; an image formation portion for forming an ultrasonic image of the retransmitted frame; and a displaying means for displaying the ultrasonic image that is formed by the image formation portion.
 8. A remote ultrasonic diagnostic system in which the remote ultrasonic diagnostic subject-side apparatus according to claim 6 and a remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus are connected via a communication line, the remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus comprising: a communication line interface for receiving a frame that is retransmitted from a communication line interface of the subject-side apparatus via the communication line after freezing; an image formation portion for forming an ultrasonic image of the retransmitted frame; and a displaying means for displaying the ultrasonic image that is formed by the image formation portion. 9-13. (canceled)
 14. A remote ultrasonic diagnostic subject-side apparatus that is used in a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, comprising: an examiner-side apparatus by which an examiner performs a diagnosis with respect to a subject in a remote location via a communication line by using an ultrasonic image; and the subject-side apparatus on the subject side, the subject-side apparatus comprising: an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion for transmitting an ultrasonic echo that is generated from an electroacoustic converting means driven by a transmission pulse, and receiving an ultrasonic echo by being reflected by an inside of the subject; an image generation portion for generating ultrasonic image data by performing a filtering process with respect to an ultrasonic signal that is received by the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion; a cine memory for sequentially storing the ultrasonic signal that is received by the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion per each frame; and a communication line interface for reproducing, from the cine memory, the frame that is requested to be retransmitted by the examiner-side apparatus after freezing, and retransmitting the frame to the examiner-side apparatus via the communication line.
 15. A remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus that is used in a remote ultrasonic diagnostic system, comprising: an examiner-side apparatus by which an examiner performs a diagnosis with respect to a subject in a remote location via a communication line by using an ultrasonic image; and the subject-side apparatus on the subject side, the examiner-side apparatus comprising: a communication line interface for requesting a communication line interface of the subject-side apparatus to retransmit a frame to be reproduced and retransmitting the frame via the communication line, every time after freezing when moving a pointer for designating the frame to be reproduced from a cine memory that sequentially stores an ultrasonic signal received by an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion of the subject-side apparatus per each frame; an image formation portion that comprises a scan converting means for converting the number of scanning lines of an ultrasonic image data of the retransmitted frame, and forms an ultrasonic image by the scan converting means; and a displaying means for displaying the ultrasonic image that is formed by the image formation portion.
 16. A remote ultrasonic diagnostic system in which the remote ultrasonic diagnostic subject-side apparatus according to claim 14 and a remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus are connected via a communication line, the remote ultrasonic diagnostic examiner-side apparatus comprising: a communication line interface for requesting a communication line interface of the subject-side apparatus to retransmit a frame to be reproduced and retransmitting the frame via the communication line, every time after freezing when moving a pointer for designating the frame to be reproduced from a cine memory that sequentially stores an ultrasonic signal received by an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception portion of the subject-side apparatus per each frame; an image formation portion that comprises a scan converting means for converting the number of scanning lines of an ultrasonic image data of the retransmitted frame, and forms an ultrasonic image by the scan converting means; and a displaying means for displaying the ultrasonic image that is formed by the image formation portion. 